I want to maybe talk about cross gender roleplaying. So, right off the bat, is this still a thing? I mean is it still an issue. In my younger days, I recall there was a fair amount of debate and controversy surrounding the act with most of it leaning towards the negative. Now, I don't see much talk about it, and I am wondering if things have changed.

I think that in the early days of the internet the anonymity afforded was unsettling, which meant that cross gender roleplaying was frowned upon because it was an implicit breach of trust, you weren't who you pretended to be online. Your avatar was meant to give a fair representation of "you" in real life. Today it is much more established that your online avatar is just a compilation of pixels and that it does not represent who you are offline, and as such cross gender roleplaying is more accepted. Probably because people realized that you can pretend to be whoever you want to be on the internet and also learned to deal with that fact.

I think there's probably still some stigma attached to it, but it's certainly far less than there used to be. I tend to almost exclusively play female characters in MMOs and I'm very frequently at least a part time RPer. I very rarely run into any particular issues. The only time I have is when the person I was interacting with had designed on getting to know the lady behind the avatar on a more personal level and I had to tell them that it wasn't a lady at all. Even in those cases, however, I've never personally had any real backlash. It's been more of a "Oh..' and that's about.

I personally always go after what I deem 'best' for the class/character/race etc Im playing.

Take for instance emm, for an online mmo, lets take the poster child, WoW. If I want a priest, Draenei Female. If I want a warrior, Orc Male. Or for instance Skyrim, if I have my caster its an Elf female, on the other hand if I have my melee chap its my Nord Male. (The Rogue one was difficult Ill admit...so I tossed a coin between Khajit Male and Dark Elf Female).

Basically, I just always go for what I think would look/fit the best in my own opinion.

Well, this is probably the most moderate responses for this topic in a while. Seen the same thing discussed in a few other forums, and....its just cringe worthy. Between the 'u must be gay if u play a girl' and the dozens of questions about manliness and statements lack of it. Not to mention the 'why would anyone want to be a girl?' crap.

Its so common its hard to pick which are serious and which are shit stirring..

Anyway, on topic, I dont see the issue with it. Pick a character which matches the story you're telling for your time with the game. If that character isnt a reflection of yourself in person....who cares?

I mean, why bother trying to experience a fantasy world if I'm going to do it as a white cisgendered male? That seems silly. Unless you're going for a self-insert thing, I guess.

Is there something wrong with white males in fantasy? Why are you self-shaming for who and what you are?

I think its more for variety in my opinion, not to sound rude. I mean in MMO's i want to have multiple characters. Making them all men, i get certain armor types(Heavy, spikey looking sometimes). With female options the armor has a nice aesthetic. That is just me though.

It's varied. And amusingly enough, some groups I've seen out there seem to actually have an entire blanket feeling about it that I've seen. One group finds absolutely nothing wrong with people RPing characters opposite their gender, while another has often adopted a "Join as your real gender or GTFO" stance in almost every chatroom for that group I've been in, while a third part has people playing opposite genders as an intricate part of the RPs so that it's pretty much expected.

If I want to play most games in genres other then RPG yeah I have to play a guy and find some reason to want to be there if not for the hero or his cause then the world but I do prefer to play as a woman especially if she has the same respect as the male hero part of why I love playing fshep.

I can't say on the whole is it a big deal studies say no not really men will switch genders when given the option more so then women. My nephew's friends question his choosing to pick heroines in games and when I questioned his friend as to why I got the," I don't know it just is," and the ever popular, " girls can't be adventurers." really he said that so its still out there and when we tell him I game and have my own console he goes, " Can I play yours?" and I go , " Nope, cuz its mine." However the game publishers and some developers tend to agree with my nephew's friend no one wants to be a woman so the very idea of having one in most games is never thought of, too much effort to implement, it was an option till they had to cut corners to bring the game to market, or she must be changed into a he so we can sell copies.

Well, so long as you're not playing the gender as horribly stereotypical (Extreme Girly Girl or Macho Manly Manson) or as a sexual deviant solely focused on fucking anyone of the opposite/same/both gender (as an exclusive personality trait*), then I don't see why there would be an issue with playing somebody not your gender. Hell, I've been a non-gendered Golem for a campaign before. Gender is secondary to not being a shitty character, which Stereotypes and exclusive personality traits will make.

*It should be noted that extreme sexual deviancy is totally ok for characters if you're playing FATAL. Though if you're playing FATAL, then what the fuck is wrong with you you sick bastard?

I don't specifically RP as females, but in MMOs I usually play females, just because if I have to look at a character for hours and dress it up and stuff, I don't want to look at a man.I generally see characters as someone else than me so I don't like dressing up men, it feels like I'm helping a man look better than me and it makes me slightly frustrated. With female characters, I just want them to look nice.

For RPGs which is where you usually get the choice of gender Ill do it if I think it fits the character Im playing as (I actually roleplay in RPGs). I think a lot of people are still uncomfortable with Transvirtuals (a term coined by one of the Paizo publishing editors I believe) but I think its more tolerated today.

Shanicus:*It should be noted that extreme sexual deviancy is totally ok for characters if you're playing FATAL. Though if you're playing FATAL, then what the fuck is wrong with you you sick bastard?

out of curiousity? whats FATAL? Is that a term in tabletop RPG's or something? (Or Im just being dense haha...) checked it up online and all I get is the definition of the word fatal.

FATAL (Fantasy Adventure to Adult Lechery, later renamed as From Another Time and Another Land) is probably one of the most racist, misogynist and downright mechanically terrible tabletop RPGs ever published. It gives state penalties for being female, contains rules for peeing distance and "anal circumference" and includes in its treasure tables cursed "magical" armors that transform you into a caricature of a race.

To answer the OP, I think playing a different gender is fine in roleplaying. I generally either flip a coin if my character is envisioned as gender neutral or play females if that is particularly relevant to the character. I've been complimented in romance RPs for playing both genders which admittedly gives me a somewhat complex feeling sometimes. >_<

Mechamorph: FATAL (Fantasy Adventure to Adult Lechery, later renamed as From Another Time and Another Land) is probably one of the most racist, misogynist and downright mechanically terrible RPGs ever published. It gives state penalties for being female, contains rules for peeing distance and "anal circumference" and includes in its treasure tables cursed "magical" armors that transform you into a caricature of a race.

Thanks for the reply, as my curiousity could not be contained...I just had to look. I wish I hadnt, but I did, that top 10 list from that one site of why they wont review it....I wont go into detail..it reminds me too much of 'A Serbian Film' ..ah-hem... yeah..

Thanks for the answer haha, I shall mark this off as a thing I learned today that I did not want to learn.

I assume your talking about playing as a character of the opposite gender in roleplaying games where you can create or choose your own character.

I do it all the time. I often like female characters more and so will play as them often. I'll usually start a game for this first time as a male but as I make more character for different playthroughs I will usually end up making female characters.

I mostly see people crossplaying online. The vast majority of it is men playing hot, bisexual or gay women. I don't think the general community has a problem with it, because I never see anyone complaining about it, but it sure bothers me just how badly it's being done. Oh, well.

To begin with, in many games with RPG-elements you might be forced to play as a guy, or the female designs are so horrible I'd rather go with a guy.

It's not like I have a problem playing a guy generally speaking but if there are cool female characters available I'll go for that since so often I am forced to play a guy.

If you mean DnD or something, again, why not? I especially don't necessarily play a character that's supposed to be like me, or even some fantasy-fulffillment, but rather interesting.

If you mean sexual stuff, again, why not? I guess the only way it could be wrong is if you purposefully lie about yourself and pretend you're in real life something you're not, but if it doesn't harm anyone...

I sort of accidentally pose as a guy on many forums I guess, since many people assume you're a guy automatically.

It's been years, but I actively lied about that on a one forum once.I never mentioned my gender, but people assumed, and I never corrected them, and since there was some homophobia there as well, I just ended up actively pretending to be a guy so I could talk about how some female characters were hot in peace.

Items include: Chastity Belt of Cursed Impregnation: The wearer is knocked up. The difference between this and the uncursed version is that the cursed version always makes the unborn child a girl. Really.(weapon) of Ravishing: The user will occasionally try to rape random women with the weapon, which will somehow impregnate them with another rapist-weapon (that kills them upon giving "birth" to it).Armor of Jewy Jewbacca: "Whosoever dons this armor will acquire a nose twice the size and a manhood half the size. Further, the wearer will become extremely greedy and fight to the death for one silver piece. Finally, the wearer acquires 2 inches of hair all over their body, resulting in halving their Facial Charisma and Bodily Attractiveness. While hairy, the wearer must bathe every 1d6 hours or smell foul."

Zhukov:Hang on, when you say "roleplay" are you talking about roleplaying in RPG computer games, tabletop roleplay, or bedroom roleplay?

(I'm guessing it's one of the first two, but hey, might as well cover all the bases.)

Because each of those could get you very different answers.

The first two. This is the games forum after all. The third one would kind of go somewhere else.

Elijin:Well, this is probably the most moderate responses for this topic in a while. Seen the same thing discussed in a few other forums, and....its just cringe worthy. Between the 'u must be gay if u play a girl' and the dozens of questions about manliness and statements lack of it. Not to mention the 'why would anyone want to be a girl?' crap.

Its so common its hard to pick which are serious and which are shit stirring..

Anyway, on topic, I dont see the issue with it. Pick a character which matches the story you're telling for your time with the game. If that character isnt a reflection of yourself in person....who cares?

I have to admit I am a little surprised by the response as well. I was imagining all kinds of negative comments, but people seem melo to the idea and that is kind of nice.

At first I read this as cosplay but I take it you mean playing as a female character in a game? I'll go with male if I have the choice. But I don't mind playing as a female character at all. Jade, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, Heather Mason, Lara Croft, Catwoman, the girls from Kuon and Fatal Frame, whatever.

To begin with, in many games with RPG-elements you might be forced to play as a guy, or the female designs are so horrible I'd rather go with a guy.

It's not like I have a problem playing a guy generally speaking but if there are cool female characters available I'll go for that since so often I am forced to play a guy.

If you mean DnD or something, again, why not? I especially don't necessarily play a character that's supposed to be like me, or even some fantasy-fulffillment, but rather interesting.

If you mean sexual stuff, again, why not? I guess the only way it could be wrong is if you purposefully lie about yourself and pretend you're in real life something you're not, but if it doesn't harm anyone...

I sort of accidentally pose as a guy on many forums I guess, since many people assume you're a guy automatically.

It's been years, but I actively lied about that on a one forum once.I never mentioned my gender, but people assumed, and I never corrected them, and since there was some homophobia there as well, I just ended up actively pretending to be a guy so I could talk about how some female characters were hot in peace.

I can't speak for your experiences directly, but I think there is a element of the double standard. Back in the day the rule was it's OK for girls to want to be boys (because who wouldn't want to be a boy), but if a boy wants to be a girl there is something wrong with them (Because who wants to be a girl). At least that is how it looked from my angel. Most of the debates I watched on the topic of CGRP always assumed it was a male playing a female character because back then we almost never considered that girls would like D&D.

I wish we had some more specified parameters to answer in the OP question, but the short answer is: it's fine by me and everyone I've known.

Table toppers I play with frequently play both genders depending on what they want their character to be like in the game and in the group. In single player - who cares but you? In MMOs it is pretty common.

The only caveat for me was, when I was running an RP guild in an MMO, the cross gender player had to disclose that's what they were doing to the group so that, in the event of any RP romances (which were only permitted to members who were not minors - we were a 20 something average aged guild, but there were a few 'kids' of 13 etc. that I basically just had to watch out for in case a bad apple ever wandered in) turning into something more substantive there wasn't a "surprise I'm really a -guy/girl-" situation that might result in problems for the people, the group, etc. No one ever had a problem with the rule or didn't understand the reason behind it.

I like to roleplay female characters more than male, since it's easier to separate myself from them and craft an original character and avoid a self-insert. 'course, I mostly play free form play-by-post rpgs, so (edit: switching gender)'s not even close to an issue for me. (Heck, I control more female characters in my most recent games than male).

Predictably, the less I've written male characters the worse I've gotten at it, so then i write more female, and then I get worse at male, and get stuck in a loop and... this has nothing to do with the OP question.

Unless you're in a chat service that's meant to be your real self, I don't see any problem with it. For MMOs and other forms of online roleplaying, it's okay. If your character gets involved in a romance plot, the least you should do is disclose what gender you are IRL, especially if the distinction between character and player is blurred. It's like being polygamous IRL - it only MIGHT be a problem if you tell them before the romance starts, it'll DEFINITELY be a problem if you wait until after you've been banging for six months.

An average guy roleplaying as a murderous barbarian, or a space fighter pilot, or a magic elf is all perfectly fine as long as they don't try to play as a *gasp* giiiirrrrllll!?

I vaguely remember a time when people really were slightly worried about things like World Of Warcraft because people could falsely represent themselves when playing the game, but everyone seemed to get over it pretty quick. I'd only expect it to be an issue at all these days in more sexist places than where I am, or with extremely old/technophobic people who don't really understand the situation to begin with.